Intro
Composer is one of many Dependency managers. Composer makes it easier to distribute PHP code that relies on other code.
in MediaWiki
- mw:Composer is used in the MediaWiki engine to manage all core libraries and dependencies since version 1.25 (including composer-local.json)
cd $IP cp composer.local.json-sample composer.local.json composer update --no-dev --dry-run
- mw:Composer/For extensions on using Composer to manage extensions
- mw:Manual:composer.json best practices for how to add Composer support to your extensions (including extension.json and skin.json)
- Jeroen DeDauw wrote this blog post in 2014 that is probably still not only relevant, but also contains wisdom not addressed in other places (e.g. Extension developers should specify
"type": "mediawiki-extension"in their extension's composer.json so that Composer installs your package into the 'extensions' folder instead of the typical 'vendor' folder that is Composer's default.)
Use git checkouts
Say you installed Semantic Mediawiki with composer require and then when you went to your 'extensions' directory you were because it wasn't a git checkout. You can rectify that by redoing the command, but with the --prefer-source option. nb. You first have to move the existing directory out of the way: mv SemanticMediaWiki unused/ cd ../ composer require --update-no-dev --sort-packages --optimize-autoloader -vvv mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki "~2.4" --prefer-source But, it's still a bit different than you might expect, because Composer leaves you with a detached head owing to the specific version that it checks out (see composer.lock).
Dependency resolution completed in 0.002 seconds
- Installing mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki (2.4.3)
Executing command (CWD): git --version
Cloning 6661acdd8c8420a7e07c178aad47590d086c83d6
Executing command (CWD): git clone --no-checkout 'https://github.com/SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki.git' 'extensions/SemanticMediaWiki/' && cd 'extensions/SemanticMediaWiki/' && git remote add composer 'https://github.com/SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki.git' && git fetch composer
Executing command (extensions/SemanticMediaWiki/): git remote set-url --push origin 'git@github.com:SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki.git'
Executing command (extensions/SemanticMediaWiki/): git branch -r
Executing command (extensions/SemanticMediaWiki/): git checkout '2.4.3' --
Executing command (extensions/SemanticMediaWiki/): git reset --hard '6661acdd8c8420a7e07c178aad47590d086c83d6' --
REASON: Required by the root package: Install command rule (install mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki 2.4.3|install mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki 2.4.0|install mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki 2.4.1|install mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki 2.4.2|install mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki 2.4.3)
$ git branch
* (detached from 2.4.3)
master
$ git status
HEAD detached at 2.4.3
nothing to commit, working directory clean
Installation
Installing it on your own host would look something like this
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.composer/vendor/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
# now you can use it to do things like install the latest version of Drush
composer global require drush/drush:dev-master
while installing it on a shared host like WebFaction would be slightly modified
ln -s `which php54` ~/bin/php
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php54
mv composer.phar ~/bin/composer
echo -e '\n# Composer\nalias composer="php54 $HOME/composer.phar"' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile
which composer
# now you can use it to do things like install the latest version of Drush
composer global require drush/drush:dev-master
drush --version
Commands
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Composer version 1.2.2 2016-11-03 17:43:15
Usage:
command [options] [arguments]
Options:
-h, --help Display this help message
-q, --quiet Do not output any message
-V, --version Display this application version
--ansi Force ANSI output
--no-ansi Disable ANSI output
-n, --no-interaction Do not ask any interactive question
--profile Display timing and memory usage information
--no-plugins Whether to disable plugins.
-d, --working-dir=WORKING-DIR If specified, use the given directory as working directory.
-v|vv|vvv, --verbose Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug
Available commands:
about Short information about Composer archive Create an archive of this composer package browse Opens the package's repository URL or homepage in your browser. clear-cache Clears composer's internal package cache. clearcache Clears composer's internal package cache. config Set config options create-project Create new project from a package into given directory. depends Shows which packages cause the given package to be installed diagnose Diagnoses the system to identify common errors. dump-autoload Dumps the autoloader dumpautoload Dumps the autoloader exec Execute a vendored binary/script global Allows running commands in the global composer dir ($COMPOSER_HOME). help Displays help for a command home Opens the package's repository URL or homepage in your browser. info Show information about packages init Creates a basic composer.json file in current directory. install Installs the project dependencies from the composer.lock file if present, or falls back on the composer.json. licenses Show information about licenses of dependencies lint Run the lint script as defined in composer.json. list Lists commands outdated Shows a list of installed packages that have updates available, including their latest version. phpcs Run the phpcs script as defined in composer.json. prohibits Shows which packages prevent the given package from being installed remove Removes a package from the require or require-dev require Adds required packages to your composer.json and installs them run-script Run the scripts defined in composer.json. search Search for packages self-update Updates composer.phar to the latest version. selfupdate Updates composer.phar to the latest version. show Show information about packages status Show a list of locally modified packages suggests Show package suggestions test Run the test script as defined in composer.json. update Updates your dependencies to the latest version according to composer.json, and updates the composer.lock file. validate Validates a composer.json and composer.lock why Shows which packages cause the given package to be installed why-not Shows which packages prevent the given package from being installed
More
To use Composer in your PHP project, see this primer, plus Matthieu Moquet's "5 Features About Composer", and also this handy-dandy cheatsheet (with mouseovers!)